NORDTEK:s Teknikdelegation

‘NORDTEK:s Teknikdelegation’ (NORDTEK’s Technology Delegation) was launched by NORDTEK, a collaboration network for institutes of technology in the Nordic countries, and was conducted with the purpose of investigating initiatives that have been taken in order to strengthen young people’s interest in mathematics, science and technology and the recruitment to engineering educations in the Nordic countries. The focus of the project was on bringing to the fore interesting and successful examples, analyse success factors, and suggest initiatives that would be suitable for spreading to other institutes of technology or to the other Nordic countries. Against a background of a large perceived gap between the number of students that decide to enrol in engineering education and the future demand for engineers in the industry, it is encouraging to see an increase in the enrolment in the Nordic countries the last couple of years. Henceforth, in the short term, a suitable focus might be to attract the “right” students, manage their expectations and work for high retention among the students that actually enrol. Research suggests that many young people are interested in science and technology, as such, but that the corresponding school subjects they have been presented to are perceived as difficult, less interesting and detached from their everyday lives and the society. This is particularly unfortunate with respect to the girls, who require the education to be relevant for them and match their current and future identities. Overall, strengthening of the education programmes that are offered to the students should be given higher priority than information campaigns with the purpose of changing the view of the engineering profession and engineering education.Financed by VINNOVA. Project Number: 2009-00605